ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS OF BEACH TOURISTS

Purpose – The main goal of the present investigation is to estimate the level of tourists' environmental consciousness (EC), which forms their intention to behave environmentally friendly (EF) during vacation time. Design – Variables of environmental awareness, environmental perception, environmental attitude, and perceived behavioural control were employed to analyze the level of tourists EC. Methodology – A tourists’ questionnaire was carried out in four mature beach destinations in the province of Cadiz during the high summer season of 2018. A systematic random selection of respondents was conducted along the pathway parallel to each beach covering both the dry and intertidal areas. In addition, Paper and Pencil Interviewing (PAPI) was completed with the tourists. Approach – Latent class analysis (LCA) model was implemented the R statistical computing program to evaluate tourists’ EC. Findings - Results demonstrated that beach tourists can be divided into three groups with low, medium and high EC. The largest group of tourists has medium EC, followed by low and high ones. Thus, the outcome demonstrates that the majority of beachgoers have insufficient levels of EC and intention to behave in an environmentally friendly manner. Originality of the research – The research includes exceptional variables to demonstrate the level of tourists’ EC and the most probable behaviour of derived groups. Moreover, the statistical analysis provides socio-geographic characteristics of these groups of tourists. Thus, the investigation serves local policymakers as a complementary tool to design an adequate management model of sustainable tourism development.